Former Chancellor Robert Hemenway Passes

Chancellor Hemenway passed away on Friday, July 31, 2015. He served the University of Kansas from 1995 to 2009. "I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Chancellor Hemenway," said Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little. "Chancellor Hemenway was a visionary leader who guided the University of Kansas to unprecedented heights and successes during his...

From Health To Human Services

On The Hill

U.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan speaks to a crowd of 3,000 on Mount Oread. Bryan was one of the leading American politicians in the country between the 1890s and 1925. Bryan was the democratic candidate for the presidency three times and is remembered by many for being a strong supporter of Prohibition and

Wonder Woodard

In the opening moments of a home game against Stephen F. Austin University, KU women’s basketball phenom Lynette Woodard sinks a shot from the top of the key that gives her a total of 3,206 career points and moves her into sole possession of the AIAW career scoring record.

“A Letter From Home”

Kansas Alumni marks the 100th anniversary of KU alumni journals, an enterprise that began with the 1902 appearance of the Graduate Magazine and, in total, represents the University’s longest-running continuous publication.

First Fraternity

The Alpha NU chapter of Beta Theta Pi, the first fraternity on the KU campus, holds its first initiation at the home of Colonel Wyllys Cadwell Ransom.

January 8, 2014

23 in a Row

Playing at Norman, Oklahoma, the KU men's basketball team wins its 23rd consecutive conference opener by defeating the Oklahoma Sooners 90-83. Wayne Selden, Jr. scored a career-high 24 points followed by Perry Ellis with 22.

January 10, 1973

Fuelish Ways

KU announces there is only 10 days worth of fuel oil left to heat the campus during the nation's gas and oil crisis. Gas service to the campus had already been interrupted and fuel oil was being used to fill the gap in energy.

January 11, 1893

Enabling Act

The State of Kansas grants an official charter to the Kansas University Endowment Association.

January 12, 1898

Kiss Off

A group of KU women students launch a “Lips that touch liquor will never touch mine” campaign.

January 12, 1914

The Future of Corn Oil

The LJ-World reports that Pharmacy Dean L. E. Sayre declared that inexpensive corn oil may be the wave of the future. "We are continuing our work to determine its importance in cooking, and to prove that corn oil may be used interchangeably in culinary operations with cotton seed and olive oils."

Birth Of A Notion

A Museum Is Born

The Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas is opened to the public.

January 18, 1924

Short Sheet

A satirical song written by KU student Helen May Marcell entitled "Daddy Swiped Our Last Clean Sheet and Joined the Ku Klux Klan" is reportedly first published on this date. It was later recorded on KKK Records with the artist listed as "100% Americans". Marcell also wrote other musical comedies for performance at KU.

January 18, 1986

Happy Landing

KU grad Steven Hawley, NASA Mission Specialist, returns to earth aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia STS-61-C. It was the second of his five space missions aboard the Shuttle.

It Wasn’t the Gila Monster

Even though he was bitten by a Gila Monster a couple of weeks before, KU Professor Lewis Lindsay Dyche died at Stormont Hospital in Topeka from an existing heart condition.

January 21, 1909

A Touch Of Glass

In an early example of corporate funding of academic research at KU, the Holophane Glass Company reportedly sets up an industrial fellowship yielding an annual income of $1,500 plus ten percent of profits from any discoveries.

I Spy

On a night that Clyde Tombaugh called the “worst seeing in my life before or since,” an exposure was made that revealed the image of Pluto, albeit swollen due to high winds that night. It would still take corroborating photos to prove the existence of the new planet.

Artful Lodgers

Amid a post-World War II campus housing crunch, the University Daily Kansan reports that 80 male students – nearly all returned veterans – will soon move into the basement of present-day Spooner Hall, then known as the Spooner-Thayer Museum of Art.

Presidential Visit No. 4

President Barack Obama visits KU, speaking to a crowd of over 6,000 in the Anschutz Sports Pavilion. His talk focused on the middle class economics such as the cost of attending college, student loans, health insurance and the minimum wage.

Starry, Starry Night

Not Happy

A writer in the Oread Gazette attacks KU Chancellor John Fraser and Professor Francis Snow for “neglecting their classes,” characterizes the Preparatory Department as being “something of a swindle,” and asserts that KU professors owe their students “an adequate return on their time and money.”

The Lime Of Their Lives

The KU Endowment Association announces acquisition of the house that will become Jolliffe Hall, a building that will serve variously as a residence hall for undergraduate men and women, and be slathered in lime green paint for much of its existence.

This Must Be Belgium

KU’s Spencer Museum of Art opens Les XX and the Belgian Avant-Garde, an exhibition showcasing the oeuvre of a group of late nineteenth century Belgian artists such as James Ensor and Felicien Rops.

January 25, 1921

$10,000 An Hour

Lawrence residents reportedly raise $30,000 for the KU Memorial Stadium fund in just three hours.

January 25, 1986

Dreiling Steps Up

After beating 13th-ranked Louisville in the pre-season NIT, 7th-ranked KU meets them again in Allen Fieldhouse. After two quick fouls in the first 19 sec. bench Greg Dreiling for the rest of the half, he roars back in the 2nd half with 19 pts., and KU defeats the eventual National Champs a 2nd time.

January 26, 1903

The Truth Hurts

Chancellor Frank Strong paints a dire picture of KU's condition, asserting, “State pride leads us to say that the University of Kansas is one of the great institutions of the country, but it is not so.”

January 26, 1943

Science and Commerce

Charles F. Kettering, engineer, inventor and businessman speaks at convocation. Kettering invented the electrical starting system for automobiles, leaded gasoline, the refrigerant Freon and the flying torpedo, precursor to today’s military drones.

The Day They Almost Abolished Football

Coming Into Focus

The third of three corroborating images of Planet X (Pluto) is taken by young Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory. Next step...recognizing the planet in the three photos by using a machine called the blink comparator.

The Ransom Rambler

Nolan Cromwell, former KU defensive back and quarterback, was born in Smith Center. Nicknamed "The Ransom Rambler" after becoming a three-sport standout at Ransom, Kansas High School, he went on to become All-America in both Track and Football while at KU, leading all KU quarterbacks in rushing yards.

Giving Peace A Chance, Sort Of

Logan’s Run

Dr. Logan Clendening, a leading medical historian, a newspaper columnist appearing in 383 newspapers, and author of one of the best selling medical books of the 20th Century (The Human Body), dies in Kansas City.

Cleanup Time

Bonding with KU

The citizens of Lawrence, by almost a unanimous vote, authorized bonds to the amount of $100,000 for the purpose of erecting (old) Fraser Hall, the second building on campus. The legislature appropriated another $50,000 for its construction.

Sisters Act

All The News Not Fit to Print

The University Daily Kansan announces it is moving to a "digital-first" approach beginning in Fall 2015. The online version will continue to provide daily content at Kansan.com, but a print edition will only be issued on Mondays and Thursdays.

February 5, 2014

Last Words

On the centenary of his birth, KU receives the last works of author William S. Burroughs from the Burroughs estate. Burroughs, author of "The Naked Lunch," lived in Lawrence the last 15 years of his life.

From Engineering to Journalism

Fowler Shops, now known as Stauffer-Flint Hall, is open to the public. The building was a gift of George A. Fowler, a wealthy Kansas City businessman. His connection with the University came through his friendship with KU engineering and physics professor Lucien I. Blake.

Knute Knows Football

Notre Dame's Knute Rockne speaks at the first annual football banquet in the Kansas Union Ballroom. Also in attendance...Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd. Rockne died less than two months later in a plane crash near Bazaar, Kansas

February 7, 1899

First in War

Alfred C. Alford, the first KU student or alumnus killed in any war, dies near Caloocan, Philippines during the Philippine-American War. He fought in Company B of the Kansas Infantry under the command of another KU man, Colonel (later Major-General) Frederick Funston.

February 7, 2015

KU Coaching Tree Loses Branch

Hall of Fame basketball coach Dean Smith, who played both basketball and baseball at KU, died after suffering from dementia during the last few years of his life. He played on the 1952 National Championship team under Phog Allen.

February 8, 1906

The Phog Drifts In

Forrest C. "Phog" Allen (pictured) and fellow freshman (and KU legend) Tommy Johnson play in their first game as Kansas Jayhawkers. Allen scores eight points in the contest against the Wyandotte Athletic Club.

They’ve Come A Long Way, Maybe

Scoring Leader

Ralph "Lefty" Sproull, a three-year starter from 1913-1915, scores 40 points in a game versus Washington University (St. Louis). This would be the most points scored by a Jayhawk in a game until Clyde Lovellete scored 44 in a 1952 NCAA Tournament game against St. Louis.

February 9, 1985

Brown’s Jayhawks Defeat Memphis

Losing to Michigan by 19 just days earlier, KU proved it was a team to be reckoned with when it beat Memphis State 75-71. Memphis went on to a berth in the 1985 Final Four.

February 10, 1899

Winning at Home

The new men's basketball team plays its first home game at a Lawrence skating rink. The Jayhawkers beat the Topeka YMCA 31-6. About fifty people watched the event.

February 10, 1933

Hire Education

As the Great Depression reaches its lowest depths, KU officials send over 400 letters to KU faculty members and Lawrence residents pleading for some odd jobs that will help students remain in school.

Fit To Be Bow-Tied

Globetrotter Returns

Former Jayhawk Lynette Woodard, the leading scorer in women's collegiate basketball history, returns to a crowd of 13,000 fans in Allen Fieldhouse as a member of the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters. Woodard was the first woman to play for the team.

ROTC Takes a Seat

The Student Senate approves a bill to create a representative for the ROTC on campus. It is the first time ROTC has had a seat in the Senate. At the time of the bill's approval there were 235 ROTC members on campus.

February 12, 1909

Lincoln Log-Rolling

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, KU Chancellor Frank Strong orchestrates a campus ceremony and banquet for state legislators, capping a major lobbying campaign for increased state funding to the University.

February 15, 1889

Hidden Hand?

The Topeka Capital-Commonwealth reports a charge by Kansas Representative Daniel W. Poe of Butler County that KU is trying to “run the legislature and the state.”

February 15, 1915

First on the Hill

The Delta Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha is established at the University of Kansas. The chapter was the first historically African-American/black greek letter organization at KU and is the fourth-oldest among all Alpha Kappa Alpha chapters in the USA.

February 15, 1934

KU’s New Deal

A KU committee begins finding part-time jobs paying $10 to $20 per month for 350 Depression-era students under the College Students Employment Project (CSEP) of the Federal Relief Administration.

February 15, 1936

Here’s To Naismith

The night of the KU-K-State game (KU won 52-34) was declared "Naismith Night" to honor Dr. Naismith and his game. Basketball was being introduced as an official Olympic event in Germany for the first time this year, and many such programs were held in the state to solicit funds to send Naismith to Berlin.

February 16, 1914

Slippery Slope

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that a large bob-sled, capable of carrying a dozen people, was traveling down Adams St. (14th St.) and ran into the rear wheel of a horse-drawn cab traveling on Tennessee Street. The KU student in the front, Cecil M. Beardsley, Russell, KS, was severely injured and died shortly after the collision.

“Let Us Raze Historic Halls!”

Iconic Sculptor

Professor Emeritus Elden C. Tefft, who created iconic images at the University, dies. He graduated from KU with a bachelor's and master's degree in Fine Arts and taught at KU for 40 years, retiring in 1990. His sculptures included the Strong Hall Jayhawk, the Smith Hall Moses and the current version of the University of

Planetary Man

Rx For Rural Health Care

The “Rural Health Program for Kansas,” a measure conceived by KU School of Medicine Dean Franklin Murphy to provide underserved Sunflower State communities with additional physicians and other medical professionals, is signed into law by Kansas Governor Frank Carlson.

It Could Have Been Kickapoo

Kansas Territorial Governor John W. Geary signs a bill passed by the Territorial Legislature that calls for the establishment of Kansas Territorial University in Kickapoo, Leavenworth County, not Lawrence.

Water On The Brain

A Great Debate

The University Debating society held its first formal debate. The debate topics included the establishment of a Parcels Post system and the creation of a uniform divorce law. President Milton Minor and VP Allen Wilbur presided over the 54 members of the group.

February 23, 1921

The Thrifty Third

The KU Registrar, George O. Foster, releases a report showing that 31 percent of KU students are self-supporting.

February 23, 1940

Separate But Not Equal

Ernie Fields (pictured) and His Orchestra play for the segregated Negro Varsity dance in the Kansas Union Ballroom. Each of the 128 black KU students were permitted to bring two guests. According to the Daily Kansan, the annual affair was given to Negro students as a “compensation for the regular varsities.”

Rising Son

At the age of 32, Dr. Franklin D. Murphy – a son both of KU and of a Medical School “founding father” – agrees to become dean of the University of Kansas School of Medicine, the youngest man in the nation to hold such an office.

Birth of the Campanile

In a meeting with the Faculty, Chancellor Malott charges the Alumni Association with the responsibility of formulating plans toward the building of a proper memorial to the Jayhawkers who had made the ultimate sacrifice during World War II.

February 24, 1965

Law and Survival

Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas speaks to 2,000 in Hoch Auditorium. Speaking on the "The Role of Law and Survival," Douglas stated that the world of the future will not be East vs. West, but the "Haves" vs. the "Have-Nots", and the USA would have to spend more money on people in the future

February 24, 1988

He’s No. 1

Danny Manning moves into first place in Big 8 career scoring as he reaches 2,663 points in a game against the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman. The previous record was held by OU's Wayman Tisdale.

February 24, 2014

Ten Straight

Led by guard Naadir Tharp, who scored 12 points in the last six minutes of the game, the KU Men's Basketball team secures a 10th straight Big 12 conference title by defeating Oklahoma 83 to 75 in Allen Fieldhouse.

“The Place Where Kansas Makes Engineers”

A Game For The Ages

As Missouri prepares to exit the Big 12, the men's basketball team overcomes a 19-point deficit to defeat the third-ranked Tigers 87-86 in overtime, assuring that KU will own a portion of an 8th straight Big 12 title.

February 25, 2013

500th Win

Men's basketball head coach Bill Self gets his 500th career victory with a KU win over Iowa State in Ames. The Jayhawks won the heated battle in overtime 108-96. KU guard Elijah Johnson led the Jayhawks with a 39 point performance- the most points scored by a Jayhawk during the Big 12 era.

February 26, 1936

Byrd Flies South

Polar explorer Admiral Byrd (pictured with Chancellor Lindley) visits campus for a lecture on Little America, which were exploration bases established in the Antarctic.

February 27, 1862

Manhattan On The Rocks

The Kansas state senate votes down a bill to locate the proposed public university in Manhattan.

February 27, 1932

A Bit of Phogery

Phog Allen delays the start of the Oklahoma game to 7:30 p.m., purportedly so fans could listen to the end of the K-State/MU game. Actually, Phog delayed the game to give center Bill Johnson time to fly from Oklahoma where he had been attending his father's funeral. Johnson arrived in time and KU won 33-29.

February 28, 1889

Lippincott’s Leave-Taking

Joshua A. Lippincott, KU’s fourth chancellor, informs the Board of Regents that he will resign to become minister at Topeka’s First Methodist Church.

February 28, 1923

Phog’s Career On the Line

Confiding in his wife before the season began, Phog Allen states he will quit coaching if KU cannot win a "clear-cut" conference championship. KU goes on to a 16-0 conference record, wins the championship, and is later named the 1923 National Champions by the Helms Foundation for the second year in a row.

February 28, 1974

Before They Were Stars

From Gold to Bronze

Bernard "Poco" Frazier wins the 2-mile run at the Big 6 indoor track meet while KU placed 3rd overall. Multi-talented Frazier is also known for creating the bas-relief sculptures of engineers at the entrance of Lindley Hall, and the bronze doors of the Memorial Campanile.

Field House of Dreams

Ready When You Are

With American entry into World War I appearing increasingly likely, the KU faculty wires President Woodrow Wilson with an assurance of “their unqualified support in any measure taken to preserve the honor and integrity of the United States.”

March 2, 2012

The BEST Yet

A new Business, Engineering, Sciences and Technology (BEST) Building opens on the Edwards Campus. The 75,000 sq. foot building cost $25 million to construct.

March 2, 2013

Ben Better

Ben McLemore scores a freshman record 36 points in a win against West Virginia in Allen Field House. McLemore's total broke the 35 point record set by Danny Manning on the same date in 1985 in a contest with Oklahoma State. (image: Tara Bryant/KANSAN)

Phog’s First Farewell

Cunningham Continues

Former KU Track star Glen Cunningham sets a new world record in the indoor mile run with a time of 4:04.4.

March 4, 2001

Game Over

Citing budget concerns, Athletics Director Bob Frederick announces the elimination of both the men's tennis and men's swimming/diving programs. The last sports eliminated at KU were men's and women's gymnastics in 1980.

March 5, 1896

Foiled

KU officials reportedly cancel the women’s fencing drill after the team insists on wearing bloomer suits.

“There Is Too Much Talk Here About Segregation”

Kansas Representative William H. Blount convenes a hearing in Topeka to investigate racial discrimination at the University of Kansas, with particular focus on the Medical School’s exclusionary practices that prevent African American students from completing medical degrees at KU.

Daisy Hill Revival

A groundbreaking ceremony is held for the construction of two new freshman-focused residence halls at 1620 Engel Road. McCollum Hall is to be razed for the project. The new hall was set to accommodate 350 residents.

March 6, 1885

Breaking Away

News that the Legislature has approved major appropriations for KU after years of only moderate support sparks a spontaneous rally in downtown Lawrence at which Chancellor J. A. Lippincott declares that taunts belittling KU for being only a local “Lawrence University” or even just “Lawrence High School” have become a thing of the past.

“We Shall Overcome”

Snow Hall’s Dance In Hell

H.H. Lane, chairman of the KU Zoology Department, complains that the original Snow Hall is in such a state of disrepair that “careless use of a hotplate or Bunsen burner could start a roaring blaze,” and overall conditions “were probably responsible for the repeated illnesses of the faculty who worked there.”

Fuller’s Brushes With Fame

The Chateau That Blake Built

The Kansas Legislature authorizes $50,000 for the construction of a new physics and electrical engineering building, a striking structure resembling a French chateau now remembered as “old” Blake Hall.

Best Ever

The KU women's track and field team has a program-best 11 athletes named as first or second team All-Americans. Runner Taylor Washington, senior, earned her fourth All-America award, another first for KU.

March 12, 1890

The Chancellor Who Never Was, Take 2

The Board of Regents elects Rev. Charles F. Thwing, pastor of the Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota to be University Chancellor, but he declines, paving the way for the appointment of KU Professor Francis Snow.

March 12, 1966

Out of Line

With the 1966 NCAA Midwest Regional Final contest against Texas Western in a second overtime, Jo Jo White hits what was thought to be the winning basketball as time ran out. But an official ruled White had stepped out of bounds before the shot. Texas Western won, going on to win the National Championship.

March 12, 2013

Outstanding in Her Field

Andrea Geubelle, long and triple jumper, was named the USA's female field athlete of the year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. This is the second-consecutive national indoor honor for the women's team after Diamond Dixon was named the nation's female track athlete of the year in 2012.

The Ideal Jayhawker

From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for March 14, 1913: "Kansas University Co-eds who are members of the K.U. Y.W.C.A. have outlined a code of ideals to which they would have the young men of Kansas measure up. In a list of nine requirements they have prescribed for his every-day life in such a manner that

No Holiday

A sit-in at the Lawrence Holiday Inn was held by a group that called itself Concerned White Citizens of Lawrence. The inn came under fire for alleged poor treatment of several black employees. The group took all seats in the restaurant, forcing it to close. The hotel manager was later found guilty of discrimination.

Arranging Dyche’s Chair On Mount Oread

Dearly Deported

University Chancellor Deane W. Malott recommends that KU accept Japanese-American college students being deported from the West Coast in the wake of Pearl Harbor, suggesting their presence would be “an interesting leaven in our group,” and contending the whole deportation scheme would appear “utterly foolish” in the “light of later years.”

Charisma Amidst The Chaos

Take 5 and more

The famous jazz group, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, performs in Hoch Auditorium.

March 20, 1857

Born to Wander

Naturalist, conservationist, taxidermist and adventurer Lewis Lindsay Dyche was born in Berkeley Springs, W. Va. The KU Museum of Natural History, including Dyche's Panorama of North American Mammals (featured at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago), reside in Dyche Hall.

Too Darn Hot

KU alum Lorenzo Fuller is born in Stockton, Ks. He had his own radio program and starred in many musical productions at KU. He went on to perform on Broadway, was popular on the radio in the 1940s, and was the first African-American to host a national TV show in 1947.

Big Game for Big Man

Kansas men's basketball defeat St. Louis in Kansas City to advance to the 1952 NCAA Final Four. Clyde Lovellette scored 44 points in the contest, an NCAA Tournament record.

March 23, 1940

First Final Four

In the Western Regional final game of the NCAA Tournament (Final Four), KU's Pony Express team, featuring Ralph Miller, Howard Engleman and Dick Harp, defeat the University of Southern California 43-42. KU would lose to Indiana in the final.

March 23, 1957

Big Game, Big Loss

In the NCAA national championship game in Kansas City, KU men's basketball, featuring Wilt Chamberlain, loses in three overtimes to North Carolina. Final score NC 54, KU 53.

KU’s Greatest Team?

Irish Sweepstakes

The University of Kansas gains one of the world’s most impressive Irish political and literary collections when 11 tons of books, pamphlets, periodicals, and other items representing the bulk of Patrick Sarsfield O’Hegarty’s library arrive on Mount Oread.

The Full Monte

Monte Johnson resigns as Athletics Director. Johnson was a former athlete at KU and was responsible for the firing of Don Fambrough in '82 and Ted Owens in '83. He also hired Larry Brown as coach of the men's basketball team, who led the Jayhawks to the NCAA Championship in '88.

March 27, 1988

Going To Kansas City

KU beats Kansas State in the regional championship game in Pontiac, Michigan and advances to the 1988 Final Four to be held in Kemper Arena in Kansas City. Image of Clint Normore by Gary Mook.

March 28, 1936

Phog’s 20th Title

The men's basketball team wins the Big Six Conference title by beating Nebraska in Lincoln 43-36. It was Phog Allen's 20th conference championship in twenty-five years.

March 28, 1991

School’s A Blast

A bomb was placed in a Parking Services jeep in the Joseph R. Pearson Hall parking lot. The bomb was discovered and moved to the hill east of JRP where it exploded less than five minutes later. One student and one former student were arrested.

Marvin’s Gardens

Chancellor James Marvin leads the first concerted “campus beautification” campaign at KU, a joint student-faculty effort on Arbor Day that culminates in the planting of more than 300 trees on Mount Oread and sets the stage for the development of present-day Marvin Grove.

Fish Stories

The Lawrence Jeffersonian, a newspaper generally reflective of Populist opinion, questions the administrative abilities of KU Chancellor Francis Snow and recommends he curtail his popular talks about evolution, which the paper calls “fish lectures.”

Natural Observer

“We All Missed Hilden Gibson”

Dr. Hilden Gibson, a popular political science professor and strong supporter of KU’s cooperative housing movement, unexpectedly passes away, inspiring the men of 1614 Kentucky Street to name their co-op in his honor.

Eight Is Enough

Downward Mobility

Judge J.W. Green, dean of KU’s law school, reportedly hosts a “poverty party” for faculty members and their spouses, with invitations resembling subpoenas regarding the case of Poverty vs. Reduced Salaries and a menu consisting of donuts, coffee, milk, and mush.

Danny And The Miracles

Launch Of A Lecture Series

Pierre Rosenberg, chief curator of paintings at the Louvre, delivers a talk titled “Chardin, Symbol of the 18th Century in France and Painter of Modern Life,” the premiere Franklin D. Murphy Lecture at KU’s Spencer Museum of Art.

April 6, 1913

Chicks’ Picks, Circa 1913

Jo Jo Knows Basketball

The Naismith Hall of Fame announces that Jo Jo White, KU All-America in 1969, and Olympic gold medal winner in 1968, will be inducted with the class of 2015. White was also on the Boston Celtics NBA Championship teams of 1974 and 1976.

Just Say No To Colonialism

Taking the negative side on the question of whether the US should adopt British-style colonial policy in Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Philippines, the KU debate team defeats the University of Missouri at Columbia.

April 7, 2008

Party Like Its 1988

The 2007-08 men's basketball team defeated the Memphis Tigers in San Antonio to win KU's third NCAA Basketball Championship. After rebounding from a late-game deficit, tournament Most Outstanding Player Mario Chalmers sank a three-point shot to take the game into overtime. The Jayhawks went on to win 75-68.

April 8, 1916

Party Line

Seven hundred KU alumni in New York, Lawrence, and San Francisco participate in a transcontinental telephone reunion as part of a demonstration by the Bell Telephone Company that also marks the 50th anniversary of KU’s founding.

Driven Snow

Pacifist Overtures

In a vivid display of 1930s-era pacifism, 700 KU students gather in front of Fowler for a Student Strike Against War Committee protest rally, part of a global antiwar demonstration taking place on 140 campuses across the country and around the world.

Strong’s Stuff

Digging It

A groundbreaking ceremony is held on the site of the new Rock Chalk Park in northwest Lawrence. The park will feature a track and field venue with 7,000 permanent seats and about 3,000 temporary ones. The new soccer stadium will accommodate 2,500 while the new Softball stadium will seat 1,500.

April 17, 1907

Attack Of The Killer Bees

To combat the green bug wheat pest that is damaging the state’s wheat fields, KU’s entomology department begins distributing parasitic bees to Kansas farmers to help them contain the plague.

April 17, 2004

A Fine Victory

The KU Men's Bowling team, coached by Mike Fine, wins the Men's Intercollegiate Bowling Championship in Tulsa, OK. It was KU's first national men's bowling championship since 1963. The team came from behind to defeat Saginaw Valley State. KU's Rhino Page was named the Most Outstanding Performer in the Men's division.

The Jayhawk in History and Legend

James Lane's Jayhawkers take up residence in the East Room of the White House to protect the President. Lincoln's assistant wrote "The White House has turned into a barracks. Jim Lane marshaled his Kansas Warriors...the western Jayhawkers..." Hay described Lane as a "gaunt, tattered, uncombed and unshorn figure."

Strike One

KU plays its first baseball game against Washburn University. In a high scoring contest, the KU squad lost 22-29.

April 18, 1890

The Path to Lawrence

Twenty-eight year-old James Naismith graduates from McGill University in Montreal and is licensed as a minister. He was also serving as McGill's Director of Gymnastics and Physical Training, but would soon depart for Springfield, Massachusetts and the YMCA Training Institute where he would invent Basket Ball.

A Streetcar Named The KU Loop

Jailhouse Stock

An Emporia banker doing time at the Kansas State Penitentiary after being convicted of embezzlement tells KU that its correspondence courses give him “more of a thrill from the work than I ever did making money.”

April 19, 2008

Crossing The Line

The long-term campus hangout known as The Crossing and other names, as well as other businesses at 12th Street and Oread Avenue, are demolished to make way for the new Oread Hotel.

Schneider Named Women’s Basketball Coach

Faith And Resolution

The University of Kansas Board of Regents authorizes creation of the four-year KU School of Medicine, accomplished by merging the existing two-year School, based in Lawrence, with three Kansas City-area proprietary medical colleges.

Mills’ Moment

Be-In There

The 1960s-era counterculture makes a splash on Mount Oread when KU students hold a “Human Be-In” at Potter Lake.

April 22, 1967

Ryun’s Relays Record

Sophomore Jim Ryun wins the Glen Cunningham Mile at the 42nd Kansas Relays with a new meet record of 3:54:7. His time also topped the National Collegiate record of 3:56.4. He posted quarters of :58.6, :59.8, :60.2 and :56.1. As of 2013, his Relays record still stands.

April 23, 1941

Not Exactly Flower Power

Approximately 3,400 KU students and faculty members, plus Chancellor Deane Malott and his wife, Eleanor, participate in the University’s first Dandelion Day, a voluntary campus weeding operation that collects 93,000 pounds of dandelion debris in a mere three hours.

The Man Who “Sees Around Corners”

“Joint” Ventures

KU journalism students expose a widespread illicit liquor trade in officially "dry" Lawrence when they take over the reins of the Lawrence Daily Journal as part of a one-day experiment in investigative reporting.

Dole In One

KU announces plans to establish what will become the Dole Institute of Politics that opens in summer 2003.

April 26, 1912

Suffragette City Beat

For the first time, the University Daily Kansan publishes an issue produced soley by KU’s fifteen female journalism students.

April 26, 1972

The Public Dole

Kansas Senator Robert Dole presents a lecture in the Kansas Union Ballroom as part of the Vickers Memorial Lecture Series.

April 26, 1987

Hot Time

A fire caused $250,000 damage to the Sigma Phi Epsilon house at 1645 Tennesee Street. Fire Chief Jim McSwain the damage could have been much worse if it had occurred at night. No fraternity members were injured.

Lorenzo The Magnificent

In the first of two stunts that would enter into campus legend, KU art student Dan Wessel, who preferred to be known as “The Great Wesselini” and similar monikers, attempts to fly his homemade glider over Memorial Stadium by rolling down a 32-foot ramp north of the Campanile.

Football Gets A Pass

The Board of Regents votes in favor of retaining intercollegiate football, following three months of spirited debate about abolishing the game and replacing it with rugby.

April 28, 1919

Tank For The Memories

Four thousand KU students and Lawrence residents watch a US Army tank destroy the walls of the East Wing of abandoned Old North College, the University’s original building, as part of a demonstration of firepower in behalf of the Fifth Liberty Loan drive.

April 29, 1861

Manhattan Transfer

A special committee of the Kansas legislature recommends the state take over Bluemont College in Manhattan and make it the basis for the proposed state university.

Mayday Mayhem

“Nothing Like It In The World”

The Panorama of North American Mammals, a version of which is now located in the University of Kansas Natural History Museum in Dyche Hall, debuts as the centerpiece of the Kansas pavilion at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Home For A Homer

The Thayer Art Collection, comprising nearly 7,500 art objects in all media including Cloud Shadows, an 1890 oil painting on canvas by Winslow Homer, is dedicated on Fine Arts Day at the University of Kansas.

May 2, 1992

Day on the Hill Apex

When Student Union Activities booked Pearl Jam to play at Day on the Hill they were a little known Seattle garage band. Months after the booking, when they finally appeared on Mt. Oread, they had a debut album that was a smash and drew a crowd estimated by some to be 16,000 people.

May 3, 1900

The Big Blow-Up

One of the first recorded instances of the often-heated rivalry between KU Law students and KU engineering students ends in a draw when KU Chancellor Francis Snow causes dynamiting of a 5,000-pound boulder that had become an object of contention between the two groups.

May 3, 1912

Women’s Rights?

High School debate teams visit the KU campus to participate in the state debate championships. The championship included Ashland and Burlington teams debating Women's Sufferage, an issue that will be voted upon by eligible Kansans at the next election.

Sunday’s Sermon

Evangelist Billy Sunday, nationally known for his passionate support of prohibition and revivalist crusades, congratulates Kansans for being the “least illiterate” people in the country in a speech to more than 1,800 KU students and faculty and members of the Kansas Editorial Association at Robinson Gymnasium.

They Knew It When They Saw It

A federal grand jury indicts KU professor Raymond A. Schwegler for causing “obscene literature” to be sent through the mails by importing from Germany The History of Erotic Elements in Art by Eduard Fuchs.

May 5, 2013

A New KU First

The women's team wins the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championship for the first time in the history of the conference. It is the first outdoor track and field conference championship won by KU, men or women, in the last 30 years. The women also won the 2013 Indoor Championship.

May 5, 2015

Out With the Old

The KU Interfraternity Council bans hard liquor from all chapter houses beginning in the fall of 2015. Beer and wine will still be permitted.

May 6, 1925

Ise Storm

KU Economics Professor John Ise provokes a storm of public protest when he calls President Calvin Coolidge a “tool in the hands of the big business interests of the country.”

May 7, 1897

Stay Home

In an early demonstration of anti-imperialist sentiment on campus, the KU debate team takes the negative side on the question “Should it be the policy of the United States to extend her dominions?” and defeats the University of Nebraska in a meet at Lawrence.

Once More To The Lake

Ernest Van Dyke, an engineering student from Cherryvale, Kansas, drowns in Potter Lake. Another engineering student, Leonard Ritchey, had also died in the lake one year earlier. A total of seven people have died in the lake since its construction in 1911.

Prelude To Disorder

A Memorable Drive

The Memorial Committee meets for the first time. This group of campus staff, students and alumni were charged with raising $1 million to construct the Kansas Memorial Union, Memorial Stadium and the Uncle Jimmy Green statue.

Destroy It And They Will Come

Band Of Brothers And Sisters

The US Army’s 77th Evacuation Hospital Unit, composed of volunteer doctors and nurses primarily from the KU School of Medicine and its Bell Memorial Hospital, is officially activated for duty in World War II

X-Man

KU Professor Lucien Blake, an early experimenter with X-rays, photographs a man’s foot with an X-ray camera and discovers a bullet that physicians had been unable to find for three months.

May 12, 1972

Super Cop Makes Arrests

Anti-war protesters took part in a four-mile march on Mt. Oread overnight. Twenty-seven arrests were made after the group refused to clear the area at 13th Street and Jayhawk Blvd. at the request of Attorney General Vern Miller.

May 12, 1988

Leading Kansas

Campaign Kansas, the KU Endowment Association’s largest fundraising effort to date, is publicly announced with the goal of raising $150 million.

A Change In Tradition

Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mullaly delivers the address at the 140th commencement ceremony, a role traditionally played by the Chancellor. Also new at the event were honorary degrees presented to Bob Dole, Sheila Bair, Kirke Mechem and Mullaly.

May 14, 1912

From Tuskegee to KU

At the invitation of Chancellor Strong, educator and author Booker T. Washington visited KU and lectured in KU's chapel. He was considered the most influential spokesman for black Americans at the time.

May 15, 1988

No Cash In Thrash?

A person upset by the elimination of the Thrash (rock) Show spray paints the words "No Cash In Thrash?" on the side of the KJHK studios. The programming change was made by station manager Jerry Howard who stated that he made the change to make the station more professional.

May 16, 1939

It’s A Cakewalk

Kay Kyser & his Orchestra entertain at the Senior Cakewalk in Hoch Auditorium. The crowd danced to "Three Little Fishes" and "The Rag Man."

Snobs On The Hill

Seeing evidence of snobbery on Mount Oread, the Populist-leaning Lawrence Jeffersonian counsels its readers to stop “toadying” to KU, declaring “Just so long as we toady to the University, just so long we will be a dead University town, nothing more.”

So Here’s To You, Dr. (and Mrs.) Robinson

Miracle Birth

Daniel Ricardo "Danny" Manning is born in Hattiesburg, MS. Danny and the Miracles brought KU its second NCAA Championship in 1988. He went on to play in the Olympics and the NBA, and served as asst. coach at KU before becoming the head men's basketball coach at Tulsa in 2012, followed by Wake Forest in

May 18, 1962

A New World Record

Former KU discus thrower Al Oerter sets his first world record when he achieves a toss of 200 ft. 5 inches. He was the first person to break the 200 foot mark.

May 19, 2014

Another KU First

Madeline Wilcox becomes KU's first female combat arms officer to be commissioned after the Pentagon opened combat arms branches to women in all military services in 2013. Wilcox was a political science major.

“Separating The War From The Warriors”

Is There A Doctor in the House?

Dan Dahlene, a contractor, lost his hand and received numerous injuries due to an explosion of a stick of dynamite while performing construction of the basement of Strong Hall. He was carried to Robinson Gymnasium where Dr. James Naismith and Professor C.H. Root administered first aid until a doctor and an ambulance arrived.

Mrs. Thayer’s Eclectic Collection

Our Weekly Reader

After nearly twenty years of short-lived niche publications of uneven quality, a student-run newspaper, the Kansas University Weekly, emerges with the “official approval and support of the University.”

Prairie Tales

Let’s Go Vets!

In an interview with the Kansas City Star, University Chancellor Deane W. Malott praises WWII veterans attending KU on the GI Bill, calling their campus presence “stimulating” and noting that they are “purposeful, willing to work, eager to learn, and patient under the crowded and sometimes ineffectual facilities of present-day university life.”

June 4, 1965

“And The Past Is Such A Bore…”

Shortly before the demolition of Old Fraser Hall is scheduled to take place, The Kansas City Star prints a poem in defense of the doomed building that includes the lines: “Sound the bars! Ring the axes! It’s no longer worth the taxes, And our Kansas is so poor, And the past is such a bore.”

Benton’s Ballad

Thanks for Nothing

The scourge of Lawrence, William Clarke Quantrill, former leader of the bushwhackers that burned Lawrence in 1863, killing as many as 200 men and boys of the city, dies at age 27 in Louisville, Kentucky.

“The Best That Could Then Be Had”

The Fort Scott Daily Monitor glowingly describes KU's new University Hall (later Fraser Hall), asserting "There is no structure on the American continent … equal to this in size or surpassing it in adaptness for the purposes of higher education."

The Commencement Speech That Almost Wasn’t

After months of indecision and a flurry of correspondence, pacifist ex-Secretary of State and perennial Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan delivers the KU commencement address.

June 7, 2013

Rock Chalk EcoHawks

The new Hill Engineering Research and Development Center is dedicated on the west Lawrence campus. The building was designed by graduate students in Studio 84, a design-build class offered by the School of Architecture. The center will house KU EcoHawks with the focus on resource and energy conservation and sustainability.

French’s Toast

Alf Landon Begins Career

Alfred (Alf) Landon graduates from the KU School of Law. He would go on to win the 1932 Governorship of Kansas, serving two terms. He was the republican candidate for U.S. President in 1936, running against winner Franklin D. Roosevelt. Landon's daughter, Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker, is a former U.S. Senator from Kansas.

Templin On The Mount

University Chancellor Deane W. Malott announces that a recently acquired mansion being transformed into a men’s scholarship hall will be named in honor of Olin Templin, longtime KU administrator and professor.

Ad Astra Per Aspera

In the midst of a ticket office scandal and realignment of the Big 12 Conference, Athletics Director Lew Perkins announces his retirement. Although he said the retirement would be effective Sept. 4, 2011, his last day was actually Sept. 7, 2010.

Lady First

Go With The Overflow

The Summer Session Kansan reports that a wood-frame house at 1115 Louisiana Street, recently acquired by the University of Kansas for use as a women’s dormitory, will be named in honor of the late Frank Hodder, a longtime KU history professor and the original owner of the home.

Stigler NCAA Champ

Senior Michael Stigler claims the national title in the 400-meter hurdles at the NCAA Track & Field Champions. It was the first NCAA title win for Stigler and the 36th individual NCAA Outdoor title in KU history.

June 13, 1890

Over Their Dead Bodies

KU Chancellor Francis Snow receives an honorary degree from Princeton University for his work in combating insects that plagued Great Plains farmers, an achievement that makes him “the only man who ever acquired that degree over the dead body of chinch bug,” according to the Wichita Eagle.

June 13, 1895

Not Exactly A KU Fan

Solomon Miller, editor of the Kansas Chief and a longtime opponent of KU, blasts the University for “assuming the airs of an aristocratic dictator, independent of the people, above them, aspiring to rule them.”

June 13, 1988

Thanks For The Championship!

Head men's basketball coach Larry Brown announces that he will resign to become the coach of the San Antonio Spurs, signing a five-year contract worth $3.5 million. According to the Lawrence Journal-World, Brown would have received a salary of $85,000 if he had stayed at Kansas.

June 14, 1963

Another Fine Kress

John Singer Sargent’s Portrait of Mrs. Daniel Sargent Curtis, an 1882 oil painting on canvas, is presented to KU’s Spencer Museum of Art as part of the Samuel H. Kress Study Collection.

“The Iron Horse of Kansas”

Free-Form No More?

Mike Kautsch, Dean of Journalism, announces faculty-mandated changes at KJHK Radio during the board of directors meeting of the station. The mandate, which the students resisted, was instituted to improve the station's compliance with federal regulations. The oversight of the station moved to the KU Memorial Unions in 2003.

Student Union Adds Bookstore

The "Student Union Book Store" on level two of the Kansas Union begins operations. The store immediately begins offering the Union additional cash-flow for operations. One of the first accomplishments of the store was the purchase of the "Happy Jayhawk" design from student Hal Sandy. The logo is now recognizable world-wide.

June 17, 1955

Daddy’s Home

The building known as the Fowler Shops is re-named Flint Hall in honor of longtime journalism professor Leon “Daddy” Flint. The building will be renamed Stauffer-Flint Hall on this day in 1983 to honor Oscar Stauffer, a KU grad who worked for Wm. Allen White and founded Stauffer Communications.

June 20, 1955

It’s A Wrap (in Kansas)

The on-location filming in Kansas for the film "Picnic" was completed. The movie was based on KU alum William Inge's play.

“We Can’t Lose The Medical School”

In a special referendum, Rosedale voters approve a $30,000 bond issue, enabling acquisition of today’s KU Medical Center campus site and convincing state legislators to approve $435,000 for a new hospital and other Medical School additions.

Going Nuclear

Three Keys To Success

Three men from Lawrence placed 1, 2, 3 in the Decathalon at the Olympic Trials. KU's Clyde Coffman (above) place 3rd, Wilson Charles from Haskell University placed 2nd, and KU great James Bausch won first. Bausch would go on to win the gold medal at the 1932 Summer Olympics.

Hollow Be Thy Name

Depressing Times

After leading the University through difficult times during the depression, Chancellor Lindley stepped down from the University's top position and embarked on a much-needed vacation to the Far East. He never made it home alive. He died on August 21, 1940 and was buried at sea.

For “The Girls Who Must Travel Up-hill”

“The Country And Our State Are Looking To Us”

Pharmacology professor Dr. W. Clarke Wescoe becomes dean of the University of Kansas School of Medicine and director of the KU Medical Center, ushering in a period of “momentous change and daring innovation” at 39th and Rainbow Boulevard.

Fully Integrated

The Spencer Research Library's African American Experience Collection gets its real beginning as a federal grant enables the library to assemble the often overlooked documentary record left behind by Kansas’ African American population in a more focused fashion than ever before.

“A Force For Good Design”

The Doctor Prescribes Safe Swimming

Dr. James Naismith recommends to the Board of Regents that items be obtained for Potter Lake to make it safer for swimming. Items include a flat bottom boat, two oars, a strong paddle, an anchor, a pipe pole, an artificial resuscitator, and the presence of a staff person when swimming is permitted.

“Goodness Knows, We’ve Worked Like Demons”

Williams Era Begins

After serving as Asst. Coach to Dean Smith at North Carolina for ten years, Roy Williams is introduced as the Jayhawks' new men's basketball coach.

July 10, 1912

Just Wingin’ It

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the second wing of the administration building (later named Strong Hall) will be built soon. The building will eventually expand to three wings. The new second wing will be constructed west of the existing wing (above). The two wings will then be connected by a middle wing.

July 10, 1973

Add New AD

Clyde Walker becomes the new KU Athletics Director replacing Wade Stinson. Stinson had announced his retirement the previous November and had left the department in mid-January.

July 12, 2012

Leading The Way

After an eight year process, the University of Kansas announces that the KU Cancer Center has achieved National Cancer Institute accreditation. The KU Cancer Center's Director, Roy A. Jensen, M.D. (above), led the effort to gain the coveted designation.

July 14, 2015

Tombaugh Visits Pluto

The ashes KU alumnus Clyde Tombaugh arrive within 7,500 miles of Pluto aboard the New Horizons spacecraft. Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930 at the Lowell Observatory.

July 15, 1874

The Chancellor Who Never Was, Take 1

KU Board of Regents elects Professor S.H. Carpenter of the University of Wisconsin as chancellor, but after Carpenter endures Lawrence’s 100-degree heat and swarms of invading grasshoppers, he departs for Madison and declines the job.

July 15, 1987

A Little Off The Top

The top 170 feet of the 265-foot-tall smokestack was removed today. The smokestack has been on campus since 1921.

High Hopes

In an article about the departure of KU Chancellor Deane W. Malott and his replacement by KU Med Center Dean Franklin D. Murphy, Time magazine asserts “In the last twelve years, KU has begun to climb from its place as a solid but unspectacular state university…Under Chancellor Murphy, it hopes to climb even faster.”

A Long Weekend In A Long Hot Summer

Running Up the Records

KU sophomore-to-be Jim Ryun sets a new world record in the Mile Run with a time of 3:51.3.

July 18, 1914

Water Woes

During a time of extreme drought, the city of Lawrence has shut off water to the KU campus. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the school may have to close due to the water shortage. Potter Lake had been used, but a portion of the water must be kept for fire protection on Mt. Oread.

July 18, 1921

Taking Care Of, Uh, Business

Economics Professor John Ise recommends against the creation of a business school, noting that “a science that devotes itself to the problem of how to get the dollar out of one man’s pocket and into another’s is hardly in the same position as one which aims at the creation of new wealth.”

Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad

Jay Husker

The official souvenir of the National Cornhusking Contest went on sale today. The item is a plaster Jayhawk atop an ear of corn. The contest will be held on Nov. 3, 1939, and the item will be sold by local merchants. Jayhawker Enterprises at 545 Indiana St. will produce 15,000 of the item.

July 20, 1970

No One Was Charged

After days of sniper fire and fire bombings near campus, Lawrence police moved toward a crowd on Oread Avenue, firing tear gas. A few officers also fired their weapons. A bullet struck fleeing 18-year-old KU freshman Harry Nicholas “Nick” Rice in the base of the skull and he would die at the scene.

July 20, 1972

Better Late Than Never

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the all-male tradition of the KU Marching Band was to come to an end this fall when the 100-plus member group would add women to the ranks. Funding to the band had been denied by Student Senate due to the lack of female participation.

July 21, 1818

Go West Young Man

Charles Robinson is born in Hardwick, Massachusetts. He was an original Free-Stater, City of Lawrence founder and a leading figure in the establishment of the University of Kansas. He became the first governor of the State of Kansas in 1861.

July 21, 1866

What More Do You Want?

The Kansas Tribune notes the election of KU’s first faculty and contends this development means “the people of Kansas may be reminded that it is quite unnecessary to send their children abroad to obtain superior culture.”

Birth of the Regents

In a case involving cronyism by Governor Davis, Building Superintendent John M. Shea and Dean Mervin T. Sudler of the Med Center are relieved of their duties against the wishes of Chancellor Lindley. A few months later Lindley was the target, and he was dismissed by lame-duck Gov. Davis, only to be reinstated by new

26 Rooms Riv Vu

The Summer Session Kansan announces that renovations are nearly complete on “The Outlook,” the new official KU chancellor’s residence – a willed gift from the recently deceased University benefactress Elizabeth Watkins.

Rolling into the Semi-Finals

Semi-Organization Men

The University announces that the “Men of 1011,” founders of the first semi-organized house for KU students, will move from their Indiana Street home into the original chancellor’s residence at 1345 Louisiana.

USA Handles Argentina

The 1952 USA Olympic basketball team moves into the finals after beating Argentina 85-76.

August 1, 1854

Westward Ho!

A group of twenty-nine free-state settlers, organized by the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company, arrives at what will become Lawrence, Kansas. The company was the brainchild of Eli Thayer (above) with financial backing from Amos Lawrence.

Iron Curtain Falls on Soviets

He Is Iron Man

"The Iron Horse of Kansas", long distance runner Glenn Cunningham, is born in Atlanta, Kansas. Cunningham set many records in the one-mile run during the 1930s and won the Sullivan Award in 1933 for being the top U.S. amateur athlete.

Strong Memory

An Olympic First

After all 21 teams paraded past James Naismith, he watches the first official game of basketball of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. The games were played on clay and sand courts outdoors. Naismith ironically saw the U.S. team defeat the Canadian team for the gold medal.

Rejecting Rejection

Under pressure from civil rights leaders and Kansas Governor Walter Huxman, the Kansas Board of Regents votes to prohibit the de facto practices that had prevented African American students from completing their medical education at the University of Kansas School of Medicine.

Parent’s Day

The Board of Regents unanimously agrees to name the new science library the "Marian and Fred Anschutz Library." Son Philip Anschutz, a benefactor of the University who had donated $6.5 million for library acquisitions, had requested his parents be honored instead of he and his wife Nancy.

Goodbye Library, Hello Google

In an opinion piece in the Lawrence Journal-World, KU librarian Donald Redmond laments the advent of the computer and implies that it may spell doom for libraries if a person can sit at a teletype in Lawrence and query a computer in Berkeley, Washington or Cleveland for the answer to an information problem.

Wahl On The Fly

With no other candidates willing to take the job, Dr. Harry R. Wahl, professor and department chairman of pathology, is named acting dean of the KU School of Medicine, inaugurating a 24-year period that will become known as “The Wahl Years.”

Welcome Woodard

One of the greatest women's basketball players of all time, Lynette Woodard, was born in Wichita, Kansas. Woodard still holds the career scoring record for women's major college basketball with 3,649 points.

“The House With Five Roofs”

Jocks’ Niche

The University of Kansas purchases the residence located at 1043 Indiana Street, which will become known as “Varsity House” and serve as a dormitory principally for KU football players during the 1950s.

Resigned to Resign

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Chancellor Laurence Chalmers verbally resigned to a member of the Board of Regents. Chalmers had taken KU through some difficult days including protests, the Union bombing and shootings on and near the KU campus in 1970.

August 15, 2009

Another KU First

Bernadette Gray-Little became the 17th Chancellor of the University, replacing former Chancellor Robert Hemenway. She is the first woman and African American to serve in the position.

The Case of the Gallant Professor

A Free Stater Dies

Dr. Charles Robinson, former state governor, an illegally-elected territorial governor, KU Board of Regents member, state senator, agent of the New England Emigrant Aid Company and free state leader, dies in Lawrence. He played many roles in the establishment of KU.

August 19, 1992

And Now For Something Completely Different

The Daily Kansan notes “Nearly every class that has attended the University of Kansas since the 1920s will have a different memory of the Kansas Union. Since its placement at its present site in 1924, the building has been under constant change and remodeling.”

Down, But Not Out

Confederate guerrilla leader William Clarke Quantrill perpetrates his infamous Civil War raid on Lawrence, virtually destroying the town and leaving its surviving residents without financial resources to help support the establishment of KU.

Big Baby

Dino-Might

The fossils of two spectacularly preserved 150-million-year-old Camarasaur dinosaurs, excavated during a summer-long dig in the Black Hills of Wyoming, arrive on a flatbed truck at the Jayhawk Boulevard entrance to the Natural History Museum in Dyche Hall.

August 22, 2012

New Home for Rules

KU officials announce plans to build a two-story student center next to the northeast corner of Allen Fieldhouse. The center will also serve as the new home for James Naismith’s original rules of basketball.

From The Mountains, To The Prairies

Gene Budig, president of West Virginia University, is inaugurated as the 14th chancellor of the University of Kansas.

August 26, 1932

Blast Off

Major General Joe Engle, future astronaut and KU graduate, is born in Chapman, Kansas.

August 26, 2013

Decline of Western Civilization

The KU Core is adopted for the first time, replacing some general education requirements (e.g. Western Civ) that had been adopted in the 1940s. The Core's goal is to increase students’ knowledge across many disciplines. Chris Haufler (above), chair of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, led the KU Core committee.

August 27, 1918

KU Prepares For War

An area east of McCook Field (Memorial Stadium area) and west of Mississippi Street is selected as the site for three military barracks to be constructed on campus as KU prepares for WWI. The location would eventually contain at least eight barracks.

August 29, 1883

Not-So-Fond Farewell

After a series of controversies, the Board of Regents accepts the resignation of KU Chancellor James Marvin and elects Joshua A. Lippincott as his replacement.

August 30, 1984

Feels Like The First Time

Steven Hawley, KU graduate and future KU professor, blasts off on his first of five space shuttle missions. He goes on to log over 770 hours in space.

September 1, 1898

Enter Naismith

KU names Dr. James Naismith university chaplain and director of physical culture.

Major’s Undertakings

Dr. Ralph H. Major joins the KU School of Medicine faculty, becoming both professor and chairman of the Department of Pathology, and launching a career “that can never be measured in terms any more precise than immense or profound.”

One Small Step

The Lawrence Daily Journal-World reports that a prominent Kansas woman will give the opening address to the University for the first time. Mrs. W.D. Atkinson of Parsons, KS, will give the address. The president of the Kansas Women's Day Club, Atkinson was nominated by Mrs. Cora G. Lewis of the educational administration board. Other board

Bacteriology To The Future

Bacteriologist Marshall A. Barber, whose invention of the micropipette will enable him to conclusively prove the germ theory of disease, begins his 17-year teaching career at the University of Kansas and the KU School of Medicine.

One Year At A Time

Separated Piece

Installation of the "Salina Piece," a forty-ton sculpture by Dale Eldred, begins on the triangular field between Indiana Street, Sunflower Road and Sunnyside Avenue, sparking several years of complaints and controversy before the piece is finally removed to West Campus.

Breaking With The Past

Carl L. Becker, author of the much-reprinted essay “Kansas” and one of the central figures in the development of the nature of historical inquiry, begins teaching his first European history class at the University of Kansas.

The Library That Became A Labyrinth

First Day of Classes

Opening day of classes at the University of Kansas. Tuition for college classes was $30 per year. $10 per year for college prep classes. The first commencement was not held until 1873.

September 12, 1922

Wheel Of Fortune

KU Chancellor Ernest H. Lindley writes a letter to parents requesting they discourage their children from bringing cars to campus, since the automobile, as he notes, "is a menace to the democratic spirit of the school."

Jayhawk Jubilee

A parade is held in honor of Harold “Hal” Sandy, creator of the smiling Jayhawk, commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of his version of the Jayhawk, which has served as the University’s mascot since 1946.

KU’s “Fairy Godmother”

“A Time For Everything, And Everything On Time”

Chancellor Marvin at Opening Convocation: “A time for everything and everything on time is the only rule whereby students may be saved… Sleep enough, exercise enough, and by that means and that alone will you be enabled to study enough.”

September 15, 1952

Education By Radio

Public radio station KANU 91.5 begins broadcasting at 1:45 p.m. (Station Manager, and a founder, R. Edwin Browne, pictured.) Four days later the station began airing "Opera Is My Hobby," with host Dr. James Seaver. Seaver's program aired for over 58 years, ending upon the death of Seaver in 2011.

September 16, 1918

General Bedlam

Over 2,500 men line up outside Green Hall (present-day Lippincott Hall) to register for the Student Army Training Corps as the University of Kansas attempts transforming itself into a “war institution.”

September 16, 1974

The Phog Rolls Out

Forrest C. "Phog" Allen, 88, dies at his home in Lawrence. Coach Allen coached basketball at KU for 39 years and compiled a record of 691-219. He also served KU in other roles including Athletics Director and football coach. James Naismith, inventor of the basketball, called Allen "The Father of Basketball Coaching."

September 16, 2013

1st & 2nd Amendments Collide

Journalism professor David Guth posts a tweet directed at members of the National Rifle Association concerning the mass murder committed at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. Gun rights advocates voice displeasure and a firestorm ensues, with some legislators calling for his firing or funds would be pulled from KU.

Four For Moore

Tribal Loyalty

Kanza Hall opens as one of the last of the small makeshift dormitories for women at the University of Kansas

September 20, 1987

The Kansas Sunflower Returns

Alf Landon, former republican presidential candidate, Kansas governor and KU alum, attended the KU football game in Memorial Stadium today where he received a standing ovation. Landon, who had just turned 100, died twenty-two days later. Running against Roosevelt in 1936, Landon received only 8 electoral votes to FDR's 523.

Fallen Snow

Francis H. Snow, KU's fifth chancellor and original faculty member, dies after serving the institution for 41 years. The College of Arts, the Graduate School and the schools of Fine Arts, Engineering and Pharmacy were all founded under his watch.

Nightshirt on Mass. Street

“It’ll Be A Beautiful Sight”

Genevieve Harman, whose undergraduate efforts on behalf of housing cooperatives will result in a KU women’s co-op residence being named in her honor, albeit with the occasional misspelling, begins her first day of classes.

The Chancellor Of Firsts

Scene on Campus

The University Daily Kansan reports that pornographic film star Linda Lovelace would be in town to film scenes for her new movie "Linda Lovelace for President." Lovelace appeared on campus three days later to shoot location shots. A parade, using a stand-in for Lovelace, was filmed on Jayhawk Boulevard the day before.

Ladies Of The Clubhouse

Rock Chalk Colombian Hawk

Juan Manuel Santos, KU Alum and President of the Republic of Colombia, returned to campus 39 years after he graduated with degrees in economics and business. He was awarded the Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award, the most prestigious award given by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

September 25, 1956

Rossetti’s Last

The Nature Of The Nineteenth Century

In the course of his inaugural address, KU Chancellor Joshua A. Lippincott observes, “nothing so grandly inspires the human soul as the forcing of nature’s secrets from her willing but reluctant hands.”

Breathless Remarks

President Rutherford B. Hayes becomes the second sitting US president to visit KU and first to deliver an on-campus address, a rather short one since he was apparently winded by climbing the stairs to see the view from the north cupola of University Hall, the building now remembered as “old” Fraser.

Close Quarters

Lied Performer

KU's performance art center, The Lied Center, opens to the public with a six-day run of "The Secret Garden." The $14.3 million center was a gift of the Lied Foundation Trust. It is dedicated to former KU student Ernst Lied's parents Ernst M. and Ida K. Lied.

September 28, 2014

A Change in Direction

Clint Bowen, former KU football player and KU assistant coach for 16 years, replaces Charlie Weis as interim Head Football Coach. Athletics Director Sheahon Zenger made the change after KU lost the first Big 12 conference game of the season to Texas by the score of 23-0.

Principal Women

The forerunner of the University of Kansas School of Nursing begins its first day of classes under the direction of Pearl Laptad, the first of three early and influential nursing education leaders at KU.

Back In Power

Red October

The University Daily Kansan reports the death of KU sophomore Don Henry, a volunteer fighting for the Loyalist side in the Spanish Civil War, initiating investigations into radicalism and “communistic activity” at KU and sparking fears of a “Red Scare” on Mt. Oread.

Divine Provenance

Virgin Territory

Tilman Riemenschneider: Master Sculptor of the Late Middle Ages, opens at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, with Virgin and Child, a major holding of KU’s Spencer Museum of Art, as one of the featured works.

Rooms With A View

Getting Down To Business

Capitol Federal Foundation of Topeka committed a $20 million lead gift toward construction of a new School of Business building. The gift is the largest in the business school’s history. “An outstanding School of Business is an integral part of every university,” said John B. Dicus (above), chairman, president and CEO of Capitol Federal Savings.

October 6, 1854

No To Yankeetown

Settlers choose the name of their new Free-State city by selecting the name "Lawrence" in honor of founder and financial backer of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company. Rejected names included New Boston, Yankeetown and Wakarusa.

Abbey Mode

The Presbyterian Church celebrates a Dedicatory Service for Westminster Hall, a new religious center for University of Kansas students that will end up serving as a women’s dormitory from 1933 to 1946.

Allen’s Antagonists

Responding to criticism by University Athletic Director Phog Allen about the student body’s tepid support for the KU football team, the Daily Kansan calls Allen “foolish” and the football coaches “archaic,” launching a semester-long controversy that almost results in Allen’s dismissal.

A Globetrotter First

The Harlem Globetrotters announce the addition of their first female team member, KU superstar Lynette Woodard. Woodard is the leading scorer in KU basketball history, as well as the leading scorer in women's collegiate basketball history.

The Grim Reaper Closes Campus

A Bunch Of SOBs

The University announces that a recently acquired Louisiana Street home will be called Oliver Hall, in honor of KU’s first chancellor, paving the way for it to become part of a two-house complex known as Sterling-Oliver that will join KU’s scholarship hall system.

“An Advanced Case of Bibliomania”

KU comes into uncontested control of one of the world’s foremost ornithological libraries—its first major acquisition of rare books—when the Kansas Supreme Court rules that an agreement signed more than four years earlier by Ralph Ellis, Jr. is valid as a will.

“We Were Out to Save the World”

The University Daily Kansan reports the opening of a new cooperative living residence on Massachusetts Street named after KU student Don Henry, who had been killed while serving with the Loyalist side in the Spanish Civil War.

Music To Our Ears

KU’s Dane and Polly Bales Organ Recital Hall is officially dedicated.

October 11, 1940

Frankly Speaking

1,400 students pack the Kansas Union Ballroom to dance to the Tommy Dorsey Band at the Freshman Frolic. Members of the band included Tommy Dorsey, Buddy Rich, Connie Haines, the Pied Pipers, and Frank Sinatra (above, middle).

“The City ABC Blew Up”

Over 2,000 students and local residents pack KU’s Woodruff Auditorium for a special screening of The Day After, ABC’s controversial TV-movie filmed in Lawrence that depicts the effects of a nuclear holocaust on a typical American town.

All I Ever Need is Blue

Here Comes Mills!

Flying under the expert's radar in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Billy Mills crossed the finish line in the10,000 meter run, thrust his arms into the air, and, as one sportswriter described it, wore “an expression of rapture on his face.” He had won Olympic gold and set a new Olympic record.

Four For Four

Former Jayhawk Al Oerter uncorks a toss of 212 feet, 6.5 inches in the discus finals at the 1968 Olympic games in Mexico City, becoming the first person to win a gold medal for the same event at four consecutive Olympics.

Zero Hour For A Generation Of Manhood

It’s All In The Delivery

More than 200 “internationally known scientists from Europe, Japan and the U.S” descend on the Lawrence Holiday Inn Holidome for a symposium on “Directed Drug Delivery” held in honor of KU professor Takeru Higuchi, the “father of physical pharmacy.”

Nirvana Comes to KU

Grunge rock group Nirvana appears in the Kansas Union Ballroom to promote the group's best-selling album "Nevermind", released just 20 days earlier. By January the album had reached number one on the Billboard charts, eventually selling over 30 million copies worldwide.

Crimson Pride

At a time when student newspapers on campus are referring to KU as the “Harvard of the West,” the KU athletic board chooses crimson as the football team’s official color, a decision that stands until blue is added in 1896.

October 20, 1972

Acting Out

Raymond Nichols was officially made the 12th chancellor of the University today by the Board of Regents. Nichols had been referred to as the acting chancellor since the resignation of Laurence Chalmers. Regent Henry Bubb made the motion to make the title permanent.

Bailey’s Barn

Buddy and Don Return

Actor Buddy Rogers returns to KU to present the first "Buddy" award to actor Don Johnson. Rogers starred in "Wings", the first movie to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. Johnson starred in TV's "Miami Vice". Pictured is Don Johnson.

October 25, 1960

Sad Day on the Hill

The NCAA bans the '61 basketball and '60 football teams from post-season play and national TV appearances, and places the basketball team on a 2-year probation. Cited reasons were that halfback Bert Coan received a paid trip to an All-Star game from an alum, and that Wilt Chamberlain received a car.

October 26, 1922

Convicts Visit KU

M. F. Amrine, warden of the Kansas State Penitentiary at Lansing, brought his thirty-piece prison band to Mount Oread for a convocation. The band played several classical numbers and then Amrine gave a short talk, explaining the Kansas prison system and the attitude of prisoners toward it.

October 27, 1934

Lawrence Exit

KU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean Paul B. Lawson notes, “The rather definite impression is gained down through the years that the leaders in their fields have been rather steadily leaving the University of Kansas for other institutions.”

Sayers Soars

The Bird is the Word

The Jayhawk drawn by student Henry Maloy, generally considered the first formal KU mascot caricature to win widespread acceptance, makes its debut during the first year of the University Daily Kansan's existence.

Spooner Or Later

Big Fish Tale

The Lawrence Journal-World reported "Kansas formally took possession of the largest fish hatchery in the world at 10 o'clock this morning when a stream of water released by Chancellor Frank Strong leaped into a breeding pond at Pratt." The hatchery was devised by Lewis Lindsay Dyche, professor at KU and State Fish and Game Warden.

A Rivalry Is Born

The flagship universities of Kansas and Missouri initiate what will become one of the oldest rivalries in NCAA Division IA football. Unfortunately, with MU's seceding from the Big 12 in 2011, the rivalry is on hold.

Waking Up To A Masterpiece

KU announces the discovery of an 1867 masterpiece painting by Sanford Robinson Gifford entitled “Morning in the Adirondacks” in a collection of art works donated to the University in the 1950s for use as decorations in the residence halls.

November 2, 1968

Music To Watch Hawks By

Crooner Andy Williams, with Roger Miller, performed at the 1968 Homecoming Concert. Williams was also in Lawrence in 1939... for a cornhusking contest.

November 2, 1996

Best Beats

KU’s Spencer Museum of Art holds a symposium on William S. Burroughs, a leading figure of the Beat literary movement, drawing an international audience that includes Burroughs himself, then a Lawrence resident, and poet Alan Ginsburg.

Eminent Domain

Uncle Jimmy

One of the most admired persons in KU history, James "Uncle Jimmy" Green dies. He was originally hired as the head of the "Law Department" in 1878, and guided the department as it became the School of Law in 1889. He continued to lead the school until his death.

Fringe Benefits

The Kenneth Spencer Research Library marks the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements, which takes as its mission the preservation of materials from America's radical political fringe.

Bouncing Baby Boy

The inventor of the game of basketball, James Naismith, was born in Almonte, Ontario, Canada. He was the oldest son of Scottish immigrants who had arrived in the area in 1851 and worked in the mining industry.

It Ain’t Over ‘Til Its Over

Custer’s Last Standard Bearer

Death of the US Cavalry horse Comanche, once considered the sole American survivor of the Battle of Little Big Horn, whose preserved remains are now on display at the KU Museum of Natural History in Dyche Hall.

The Queen Is Dead

Honest Abraham

Carnegie Foundation researcher Abraham Flexner visits the KU School of Medicine, compiling data and making observations for his influential expose entitled "Medical Education in the United States and Canada."

Crossed Signals

KU Chancellor Franklin Murphy, a Republican Party activist, sends a peace feeler to newly elected Kansas Governor George Docking (pictured), a Democrat, but the attempt fails to achieve its intended effect and the Chancellor and Governor begin a three-year feud that culminates in Murphy’s resignation.

A Football Fatality

With less than a minute to go in a football game at McCook Field between Nebraska’s Doane College and the University of Kansas, Bert Serf, a member of the visiting team, suffers a fatal injury while making a touchdown-saving tackle.

Dino Doubts

KU paleontologists Larry D. Martin (above) and Zhonghe Zhou publish research in the journal Science casting doubt on the theory that birds are the descendents of dinosaurs.

November 16, 1963

Mixing It Up

Dick Gregory, a comedian and civil rights advocate, appeared at Hoch Auditorium in a SUA concert. Vince Guaraldi, a jazz pianist, was also on the bill. Guaraldi is known by many for his musical scores for the Peanuts' television specials.

November 17, 1989

Hawks Send Shaq A-packin’

Coming off a year of NCAA probation, the Jayhawks beat Shaquille O'Neal and the 2nd-ranked LSU Tigers in the N.I.T. pre-season tournament by the score of 89-83. Pictured is Pekka Markkanen.

November 18, 1885

Be Aware of the Phog

Forrest Clare "Phog" Allen, the future "Father of Basketball Coaching", is born in Jamesport, Missouri.

Cause For Concern

Responding to campus radicalism and slashed state education budgets, a KU group called Students Concerned About Higher Education in Kansas publishes a bold advertisement that asks “WOULD YOU VOTE TO ABOLISH THE UNIVERSITY?”

Get the Red Out

Starting his first game as the Jayhawks' point guard, Mark Turgeon provides a second-half spark by scoring 15 of his 17 points as the Jayhawks beat the Olympian-laden Soviet Union team in an exhibition game 84-78.

This Is Lawrence, Kansas. Is Anybody Out There?

People in Lawrence were glued to their sets for the television premiere of "The Day After." The three-hour movie, with many scenes filmed in Lawrence and at KU, depicted the aftermath of a nuclear blast on northeast Kansas. The film starred Jason Robards, John Lithgow and Steve Guttenberg.

Unitarian Utilitarianism

Lawrence widow Leonora Ricker Hollingbery dies, leaving a last will and testment that calls for the establishment of a low-cost residence for women that will become an ad-hoc addition to KU's student housing stock for more than two decades.

Riding Rough

KU History Professor Frank H. Hodder tells the University Women’s Forum that former US President Theodore Roosevelt (below) is “a typical Prussian and militarist in every sense of the word,” prompting the Lawrence post of the Grand Army of the Republic to brand the historian “unfitted to teach the youth of Kansas in our State

No More Hobohemia

The University Daily Kansan records the passing of Hobo Day, an often rowdy “annual festival of rags” in which KU students dressed in hobo costumes to show school spirit and cause “a great deal of unnecessary trouble.”

Runnin’ Over the Rebels

After beating the country's No. 2 ranked LSU Tigers just five days earlier, the Jayhawks take on no. 1 ranked UNLV Runnin' Rebels in the finals of the pre-season N.I.T. The Jayhawks proved the LSU victory was no fluke, beating the Rebels 91-77.

November 23, 1912

The First Homecoming

The alumni were all invited back for today's first Homecoming at the University. The Jayhawk football team met Missouri on the gridiron of McCook Field and defeated the Tigers 12-3.

November 23, 1985

Manning Debut

Danny Manning makes his first appearance as a Kansas Jayhawk in a win over Maryland.

All That Jazz

Death of a Legend

Tommy Johnson, the "Original KU Legend" and KU's first Basketball All-American, dies of kidney failure. As a quarterback on the football team, Johnson led his teams to a 23-2-1 record. He received a blow in the kidney in the 1910 Missouri gridiron contest and never fully recovered.

Tiger By The Tail

KU’s football squad squares off against its bitter rivals from the University of Missouri in the first Thanksgiving Day game between the two schools, inaugurating an 18-year tradition in which the Jayhawkers would dominate the Tigers.

WWI On the Hill

The Lawrence Daily Journal-World reports that KU students are contributing to assist European war victims more than other schools, donating thousands of items such as gauze, bandages, chloroform and absorbent cotton.

December 2, 1872

Not Yet Ready For Prime Time

University Hall, once known as “the New Building,” later known as Fraser Hall, and now remembered as “Old Fraser,” has its official public opening although the structure remains uncompleted.

High On Helium

Fly Us To The Moon

Commander Ronald E. Evans becomes the first KU alumnus in space when he and two other astronauts of Apollo 17 blast off from Cape Kennedy on NASA’s sixth and final 20th century manned mission to the moon.

Jumping for Joy

The KU volleyball team defeats Creighton in four sets in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Sweet 16 for the first time in the University's history. Image by Jeff Jacobsen/Kansas Athletics

December 8, 2008

End of an Era

Chancellor Robert E. Hemenway, who led the University of Kansas through a period of progress and expansion, announced today that he will step down from the university's top position effective June 30, 2009. In the position since 1995, Hemenway's term was the third longest of any KU chancellor.

December 8, 2011

A Weis Choice

Charlie Weis, the 2005 National College Coach of the Year while at Notre Dame, is named KU's head football coach. Weis came to KU with 34 years of coaching experience including 16 years in the National Football League.

“Who Would Command Greater Respect?”

Unbelievable

KU would run, Kentucky would shoot 3-point shots. In the end, KU beat the Wildcats by the unbelievable score of 150-95. Terry Brown (pictured) led the Jayhawks, scoring 31 points in only 19 minutes of play. No KU starter played more than 28 minutes in the contest.

December 9, 1996

A Glass Act

A glass sculpture by artist Dale Chihuly, one of a group of artists who revolutionized the concept of glass art in the second half of the twentieth century, is given to the Spencer Museum of Art by KU alums Larry and Barbara Marshall and installed in the museum’s Central Court.

Most Generous

A $58 million gift from the estate of the late Madison “Al” and Lila Self will provide direct support to benefit students. The Selfs donated a total of $106 million to KU, making them the most generous private donors in the history of KU.

Sayonara, Baby

The Baron Passes

Adolph Rupp, the "Baron of Bluegrass", dies. A Naismith Hall of Fame inductee and former coach for the University of Kentucky, Rupp played on the men's basketball squad under Phog Allen during the 1921-23 seasons.

December 10, 2010

Rules to Live By

KU Alum David Booth and his wife Suzanne purchase Naismith's original rules of "Basket-Ball" for display at the University. The two-page document was sold at Sotheby's in New York for $4.3 million.

“This Is No Joke”

No Time For Sergeants

KU Chancellor Frank Strong assails plans for increasing military training at public colleges, contending, "universities, of all institutions in our national life, must stand against militarism and a resort to force."

December 12, 1919

Rally At Robinson

KU students hold a rally at Robinson Gymnasium to show their support for building a new football stadium and a student union.

Priority Won

After obtaining a federal priority rating by agreeing that Lindley Hall would “assume defense tasks” for the duration of World War II, KU begins work on the construction of its new mineral industries building.

Phog Rolls In

In a harbinger of winning seasons to come, the Jayhawks play their first game under Coach Forrest “Phog” Allen, as well as their first game in Robinson Gymnasium, and whip the Ottawa University basketball squad by 44 points.

December 14, 1985

Moving on Up

Bob Valesente replaces Mike Gottfried as head coach of the Kansas football squad. Valesente had previously served as Asst. Coach under Gottfriend, who resigned to become head coach at Pittsburgh.

Blackmar’s Origin Of The Jayhawk

Slow Down, You Move Too Fast

In a protest against the change to a 16-week trimester schedule during WWII, which reduced the number of days for breaks, 1,000 students hold a “Vacation Starts Tonight” rally in front of Chancellor Deane W. Malott’s office in Strong Hall.

December 19, 1873

Time To Say Goodbye

Dissident professors comprising a majority of the KU faculty vote to demand the resignation of Chancellor John Fraser.

December 19, 1944

Welcome To Civilization

KU faculty votes to make an introductory course on Western Civilization a requirement for all undergraduates for a five-year trial period.

December 20, 1931

Midwest Beats East

In the first of three games against Pittsburgh, KU's first game against east coast competition, Ted O'Leary makes a layup to beat the Panthers 24-23. Phog Allen's Jayhawkers played Pitt three times during the trip, winning 2 of 3.

December 22, 1993

Hoosier Loser

In his 11th game as a Jayhawk, and the game tied in overtime at 83, freshman point guard Jacque Vaughn swishes a 3-point shot with 0.2 seconds on the clock to defeat the Indiana Hoosiers 86-83.

“A Just Recognition Of Her Sex”

Christmas Wish

Lawrence boosters sponsor a hastily called mass meeting in an attempt to stampede Kansas Territory into selecting the free-state stronghold as the location for the proposed public university.

December 26, 1914

Physical Activity

The state of Kansas YMCA directors gather in Lawrence for their annual meeting today and inspected both KU's Robinson Gymnasium and the Haskell Gymnasium. James Naismith, Haskell's A.M. Venne, and E.V. Berry of Hutchinson, discuss how boys are drawn to Christian athletes and the leadership they can exercise.

December 27, 1924

Out, But Not Down

Following months of serious controversy, outgoing Kansas Governor Jonathan M. Davis announces the termination of Dr. Ernest H. Lindley as KU chancellor, a decision that will be reversed within weeks following the inauguration of newly elected state Governor Ben S. Paulen.

First Big 7 Holiday Tourney Championship

With 3 min. left in the championship game of the Big 7 Holiday Tourney, Clyde Lovellete shakes of MU's Win Wilfong and scores, then gets carried away and drives his foot into Wilfong's gut. With fans booing, Lovellette is kicked out of the game. KU wins their first Big 7 Holiday Tournament 75-65.

Three out of Four

The Kansas Football team gains their third bowl victory in four years as they defeat Minnesota in the 20th Insight Bowl. With Todd Reesing's 313 passing yards and Dezmon Briscoe's 201 receiving yards, the Jayhawks won by a score of 42-21.